Life & Evolution

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POLLUTED POOP Giant larvaceans (Bathochordaeus stygius) appear to eat microplastics when exposed to them in underwater experiments. The sea creatures could play a role in how plastic pollution cycles through ocean ecosystems.

K. Katija et al/Science Advances 2017

The ancestors of the trapdoor spider Moggridgea rainbowi may have survived an ocean journey from Africa to Australia, a new study concludes.

Nick Birks

DARK MARK This dark form of a turtle-headed sea snake is shedding its skin, and maybe some toxic trace metals along with it.